The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase Page 27

  Courtney made her way around the crates and boxes stacked in the storage tunnel. “Smells kinda rank in here,” she muttered. “Like wet cows or something.”

  “They must have gotten a recent shipment of soil for the Tropical Room,” Logan said. “It can smell a little if it’s already been mixed with fertilizer.”

  “You have to bring in soil?” Miles asked. “There must be tons of it just outside the factory’s door. Can’t someone just dig it up?”

  Logan shook his head. “In order to grow here, the trees need soil from their natural habitat. My grandfather was able to tell which soil went with which kind of tree just by the smell.”

  “They all smell pretty bad to me,” Courtney grumbled. “And I’m around horses’ stables all the time.”

  “You’re almost there,” Daisy said.

  Courtney approached the door. She stopped, and they could hear her fumbling for something. When she tilted her head down, her hat camera revealed she was holding a thin metal tool.

  “You won’t need to break in,” Daisy said. “The door’s never locked. They really need to improve their security.”

  Logan harrumphed. “Why? The only people who sneak in are you guys!”

  “Which way am I headed first?” Courtney asked, slipping through the back door into the (thankfully) empty hallway. “In case I can’t get both for some reason.”

  “The Magic Bar,” Daisy, Miles, and Logan replied at the same time.

  “Hey!” Philip complained.

  “Is that Philip with you?” Courtney asked with a wink. “He owes me something, too.”

  Miles and Logan whipped their heads around toward Philip. “How do you two know each other?” Miles asked.

  Philip felt his cheeks redden. “Long story.”

  “We’ve got time,” Miles replied.

  Courtney snapped her fingers at them. “Hello? Kind of in the middle of a heist here?”

  “Sorry,” Miles said. “Keep on heisting.” But he gave Philip a look that made it clear he wasn’t about to let it drop for long.

  Logan directed Courtney down the hall to the Computer Room, where the safe was in full view on the back wall. Daisy shook her head. “You guys seriously need to up your game. Ever heard of hanging a picture or mirror over a safe?”

  “That’s weird,” Philip said, peering at the view on the screen. “There actually was a picture there just yesterday. A palm tree, I think.” He really should have picked up on the fact that the picture would be hiding something. His father had pictures and mirrors covering safes all over the house.

  Logan turned to him in surprise. “You were in the Computer Room yesterday?”

  Philip hesitated, then nodded. “Part of the same long story.”

  “Sounds like a good story,” Miles said. “I’d love to hear it one day.”

  “Wouldn’t we all,” Daisy agreed, making Philip wish he’d used his “filling out boring paperwork” alibi instead.

  “I’m pretty sure no one uses this safe much,” Courtney declared, bringing their attention back to the screen. They could all see the dust on the surface of the safe’s door.

  Daisy turned to Logan. “Your grandfather didn’t happen to tell you the combination when he showed this to you, did he?”

  Logan shook his head.

  “Seeing how no one cares much about security over there,” Daisy said, “it very well might be unlocked. Try it.”

  Courtney pulled on the knob, but the safe door didn’t budge. “It’s possible they didn’t reset the lock after it was opened last,” Daisy said. Courtney twisted it clockwise, pulling as she went around, but it didn’t open. “Try some obvious combinations,” Daisy suggested. Courtney twisted the knob clockwise, then counterclockwise, then clockwise again, trying different patterns and checking over her shoulder in between to make sure no one had come in.

  “You won’t have to blow it open with dynamite or anything, right?” Miles asked. “I’m pretty sure someone would notice that.”

  “You’ve seen too many movies,” Courtney said. “I’ll just have to crack it.” This time she turned the knob very slowly in a full rotation while pushing her ear up against the side of the safe. “The hum from the computer makes it too hard to hear the drive pins clicking,” she said. “I don’t want to shut the computer down in case that triggers an alarm in the system. I’m gonna have to drill into it.”

  Logan paled at the thought.

  Seeing his distress, Philip said, “Wait. Look around first. The password for the computer is written right beside it. What if the combination for the safe is somewhere nearby, too?”

  “Let me guess,” Miles said. “Long story how you know that?”

  Philip nodded.

  “It’s a good idea,” Daisy said. “Do you see anywhere between three and six numbers near you?”

  The image on the screen tilted as Courtney looked under the table and around the sides of the tall bookshelf that held the factory’s awards. She examined the walls and shelves and desk closely and shook her head.

  Daisy asked Logan, “Can you think of any favorite numbers your dad or grandfather might have had? A birthday or an anniversary or something?”

  Logan suggested some birth dates, but nothing worked. “I’m sorry,” Logan said. “That’s all I can think of. Do you really have to drill into it, though? What if it hurt something inside?”

  “Pretty sure there aren’t any puppies and kittens living in there,” Philip said.

  Miles’s head began buzzing the same way it had when he was trying to bring back the memory of the blue Magic Bar wrapper. He’d seen a string of numbers recently. Was it at the factory? Suddenly he sprang off the bed. “I’ll be right back. Don’t do anything yet.”

  “That was weird,” Philip said as Miles ran out.

  “So, Courtney,” Daisy said while they waited. “Who’s this big date with?”

  Courtney checked her watch. “The one I’m an hour late for? A guy I met riding one day at the park. You should get out into the world more, too. When you’re not on a gig, I mean. It would do you good.”

  Daisy smiled. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  Miles returned and with a shaking voice said, “Four three one two seven.”

  They stared at him. “Really?” Daisy asked.

  He nodded.

  Daisy turned back to the screen. “The lock only goes up to thirty-nine, right?”

  “Yes,” Courtney confirmed.

  “All right. Then that leaves only one option. Try four, thirty-one, twenty-seven.”

  She did. “Bingo!” The door swung open.

  They all turned to stare at Miles as they waited for an explanation. Miles reddened. “Um, lucky guess?”

  “We’ll get back to you later,” Daisy said, pointing her finger into his chest and leaving Miles no doubt that she wouldn’t forget. On the screen, Courtney was shining a flashlight into the safe. They all instinctively leaned closer to the screen. They could see stacks of papers, jewelry boxes, some keys, a roll of cash. Typical stuff people would keep in a safe. “Do you see the Magic Bar?” Daisy asked.

  Courtney pulled out one Magic Bar and held it up to the camera. It looked exactly like the fake one Miles had seen in the display. “That’s it!” he shouted.

  She stashed it in her bag. “Anything else you need, or can I get outta here?”

  “Let’s close it back up,” Logan said, feeling really uncomfortable. The sense of invading his family’s privacy had gotten stronger once they could see inside.

  Courtney had just closed the safe when they heard voices coming from the hall. “Hide!” Daisy shouted. Before the word was even out of Daisy’s mouth, Courtney had launched herself to the other side of the bookshelf. The voices grew louder until they could tell the sound was coming from directly outside the room.

  “It’s Henry and Max,” Logan whispered.

  “Maybe they’ll keep walking,” Miles whispered.

  “Why are you guys whispering?�
�� Philip asked. “The only person who can hear you is Courtney.”

  “Shh,” Daisy said. “Courtney, is your position secure?”

  “I can’t tell from this angle,” she whispered. “I doubt it, though.”

  “See, now she has a reason to whisper,” Philip pointed out.

  “See if you can adjust your camera angle,” Daisy said. “I’d like to be able to see you.”

  In a flash, Courtney yanked off her hat, and the screen blurred as the hat (and the camera) flew across the room. Judging from the angle of the image now on their screen, it had landed directly on the doorknob. “Good aim,” Philip said, impressed.

  They could clearly see Courtney pressed up against the wall. The side of the bookshelf did almost nothing to hide her, but there was truly nowhere else to go. Under the table wouldn’t be any better.

  “Hopefully Max won’t come in,” Miles said. “He spots everything. He noticed that the right wing on one of my Bee Happys had one more black licorice spot than the left.”

  “No one usually uses this room, since all the departments have their own computers,” Logan said. “I don’t think we need to worry.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Miles said. “Someone would have to be blind not to see her.”

  “A great day for the factory,” they heard Max say.

  “Always is,” Henry replied. “I’ll see you in the morning. I just need to look something up real quick.”

  The door to the Computer Room swung open. So much for Logan’s theory. They saw Courtney press her back against the wall, but it hardly mattered. Miles’s hands flew up to cover his eyes. He watched through his fingers as Henry bumped gently into the desk chair. He assumed Henry would then pull out the chair and sit down at the computer station. Instead, he pushed the chair out of the way, walked right past the desk, and went straight to the wall safe. He was now close enough to Courtney to stretch out an arm and touch her. No one breathed.

  And then… nothing. He didn’t turn toward her at all. He just stood in front of that safe, as Courtney had less than a minute before.

  “Why isn’t he saying anything to her?” Miles asked.

  No one had an answer.

  “I thought you said no one uses this safe,” Philip said.

  “I didn’t think anyone did,” Logan said, not taking his eyes off the screen. What was Henry up to?

  Henry’s back was to them now, but they could see the door to the safe swing open. His arm began rooting around inside. Was he putting something in? Taking something out? Then they heard a chuckle, which grew until it became a full-blown laugh. Four jaws hung open—five, if you included Courtney’s. Just as quickly, Henry’s laughter turned into tears.

  Logan recovered first. He was familiar with how this worked. “This could go on for a while,” he said with a sigh. But Henry squared his shoulders and pulled himself together. By the time he passed the hidden camera on his way out, he’d already popped a marshmallow into his mouth and was chewing happily. The door clicked shut behind him.

  For a few seconds nobody spoke. Then Philip said, “Um, what was that?”

  “It was like he was glad he couldn’t find something,” Logan suggested. “And then he was sad. But then happy again? Really hard to tell.”

  Miles just shook his head in confusion.

  Then Courtney asked, “Why didn’t he say anything to me?”

  “Maybe Daisy put up a force field of invisibility around you,” Miles suggested, only half joking.

  “I wish,” Daisy said. “Spies have cool gadgets, but we can’t make things magically go invisible.”

  “Not yet, maybe,” Miles said.

  “He must have wanted to pretend he didn’t see you,” Logan said. “That’s all I can think of.”

  “That marshmallow man is becoming more and more of a mystery,” Daisy said.

  Philip debated explaining that Henry wasn’t pretending not to see Courtney standing only a few feet to the side of him. He really didn’t see her. But he’d managed not to let Henry’s secret slip before, so he’d do it again. “C’mon,” he said, “my violin isn’t going to fly here on its own, remember?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Why are we slowing down?” Miles asked. They’d just finished eating the rest of the sandwiches from the fridge, and he and Logan were about to pull out some video games. With all the excitement about Henry and Courtney and the drone, everyone seemed to have forgotten about asking him how he’d guessed the combination for the safe. He’d like to keep it that way for a while and figured the more distracted they were, the better the chance of that.

  “We’re stopping for the night,” AJ announced.

  Miles looked out at the busy highway with a frown. “But the drone hasn’t come yet.”

  “It will find us at the campground,” AJ said, taking the exit just past a blue sign with a white tent painted on it.

  Miles was pretty sure that his own face matched Logan’s disappointed expression. Having a drone land on top of your vehicle while you were parked wasn’t nearly as exciting as having it happen while you were driving!

  “This will cheer you guys up,” Daisy said at their frowns. “Come see.” They followed her back to the bookshelf-turned-spy lab. “Look.” She pointed down at the monitor. She’d scanned in the copy of the old photograph Miles had given her, and the facial-recognition software had added names above the heads of the first two people—Samuel Sweet and Florence Sweet, Logan’s grandparents. They’d known the identities of those two already, of course, but it was a good test of the program. “At this rate we might have all of them by morning,” she said.

  “This is great,” Miles said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He didn’t know how the information would actually help, but it would be one more piece of a very large puzzle.

  Philip heard them talking about the photo from the bedroom, but he had to admit it didn’t interest him much. He wanted to finish putting his clothes in the drawers. He would feel more settled that way. He’d already sent Andrew and Reggie a message telling them that he was doing fine. Andrew had replied that he would be expecting to see a knitted sweater when he got back. Reggie only said to keep his mind open to new ideas, whatever that meant.

  He hung his suit in the disguise closet and placed his dress shoes beneath it. He wasn’t sure he quite believed that this drone of Daisy’s would actually show up with his violin. He’d likely have to rent some third-rate model instead of playing with the violin he’d found in the candy factory. It had quickly replaced the one he’d found in his mother’s stuff. As good as that one was, it couldn’t compare with a Stradivarius. Nothing could, really.

  He heard the low groan of the brakes, which was the only indication the RV had stopped. He hurried out to join the others before they complained that he’d taken up all the drawer space.

  He found everyone with their faces pressed up to various windows. One glance and he could see why. He knew they were stopping at a campground, but he’d pictured a dirt field with a few trees, some tents, maybe a handful of other RVs or tents. This was pretty much the opposite of that.

  AJ went out first, and they all ran after, eager for a closer look. The sun had already dipped below the valley, but campfires blazed in every direction, lighting up the night. RVs and tents lined up as far as they could see. (Well, Daisy could see farther, but even she would admit they went on really far.) People were laughing and cooking on grills; kids were biking and running after balls, dogs, and each other. Music played, lights swung from RV awnings, and the smell of burgers and toasted marshmallows hung heavy in the air.

  “Wow,” Miles said, eyes wide. “This place is awesome!”

  “Remember,” AJ said, returning from the other side of the RV, where he’d been hooking up the water and electricity. “No one brings strangers inside the RV for any reason. If you leave the immediate area, bring your vid com with you. I’ll go to the campground’s general store and pick up some food and supplies.”

 
; “We can do that for you,” Miles said, holding out his hand for money.

  AJ shook his head. “No offense, but I wouldn’t trust you to come back with anything other than donuts and toys.”

  Miles shrugged. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Daisy said. “Maybe they have some clothes I could buy, since someone didn’t let me pack clean clothes before we left.”

  “C’mon, Oopsa,” AJ said, putting his arm around her. “Let’s go get you some of the campground’s finest attire.” Over his shoulder he said, “You boys behave. And don’t put out the slides any farther than I already did. We don’t want to attract attention.”

  Once they were gone, the three boys looked at each other and then around them. They were in a totally foreign environment with no parents or guardians, and they didn’t know a soul. “What do we do first?” Miles asked.

  Logan said, “I have an idea.” He ran back inside the RV, then came out with something slung over his shoulder. “What better way to make friends, right?” He held open the pillowcase to show all the candy he’d collected from the factory.

  When Daisy returned twenty minutes later, she found Logan and Miles playing flag football in a nearby clearing with eight of their new best friends. She ducked inside the RV to drop off a bag of the least stylish clothes a thirteen-year-old girl would ever want to wear and checked the photograph for any new matches. There weren’t any, so she headed back out to the game.

  “Where’s the tall one?” she asked, looking around for Philip.

  Miles held his hands down by his flags to protect them from being grabbed while he answered. “He heard someone playing a violin really badly and stormed off to demand they stop.”

  “That sounds right,” Daisy said with a nod. She activated the locator on her vid com, overlaid a 3-D map of the campground, and saw the red dot marked PHILIP flashing about fifty yards away. She decided that was close enough that she didn’t need to worry.

  Logan waved to her. “Wanna join the game? You can have one of my flags!”